Machines for erecting bottle carrier cartons are known in the prior art and are shown for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 2,780,970 to Gentry, U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,815 to Anness et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,466 to Sherman. Such machines have been used for years and are well suited for relatively low-speed operations. However, the capacity of such machines is not adequate for the present high-speed filling lines, particularly when the carton erecting mechanism is to be integrated with machines for loading bottles into the erected cartons.